Being alone together
by LunaML
Summary: Everyone else was together. They where alone. It was all that stupid law's fault! A nice Marriage Law fic. HGDM GWHP RWLL
1. Prophet

**Chapter one-Prophet**

Ginny Marie Weasley should have been happy. She had gotten everything she could ask for and more in life. She was in a happy relationship with the love of her life. Her worst enemy was dead and all of her friends where safe. Still she could not shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. She could not stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She could remember when such fear was reasonable. Her love was locked in a battle of wits with the strongest dark wizard on the planet. His chase led him around the world. His letters grew shorter and further between. Her sleep was fitful in the best of times. Other times she did not sleep at all but sat up late crying frustrated tears.

She wanted to go after them. She wanted to find Harry and help him. She knew that she could do no such thing. She knew that she would only be in their way at best. She suffered through long months of waiting.

Finally, on the day when he would have graduated, Ginny got the letter. They where all fine! They where coming home! Voldemort and all of the adult death-eaters where dead. She remembered the elation she had felt reading those words. Then she remembered the feeling of holding Harry again and she couldn't help but squeal with delight.

The feeling hadn't lasted though. When she was alone she still felt that the story was less then finished. She still felt like there was still something left to settle. _It's probably just paranoia_ she told her self _I'll get over it with time_. Suddenly the window to her room burst open and a ministry owl dropped a letter into her lap. _Then again_ she thought grimly _maybe I'm onto something_.


	2. Mountain high

**Chapter two- Mountain high**

Ronald Weasley was surprised to hear his phone ring. All of his friends knew that tonight was his date with Miss. Lovegood (she had told him to call her Luna but old habits die hard). They had all teased him about it for weeks. Who would call him at this of all times?

"Hello?" he said. His voice cracked with embarrassment. "What? ... Slow down sis I can't understand… What letter… No it's okay… I will be there as soon as I can… of course… I'll see you soon"

He turned to face Luna. "Something is going on at home." he said, "I need to go find out what. I'm so sorry it had to happen tonight. I promise I will make it up to you. Please come with me according to Ginny this affects all of us.

Luna smiled sweetly and placed a hand on his. "Of course I'll come" she said.

"Right then," said Ron, "Waiter the check!"

--- Later at the borough ---

In the end the party had expanded to fifteen people. They stood in a semi circle around the front of the house. All of the unmarried members of the party except the new born Lilly and James held letters from the ministry that read identically. Just in case someone was unaware of the exact text, Molly Wesley read it out loud:

**Dear recipient, **

**The Ministry of Magic hopes this letter finds you in good health. We are delighted to have this opportunity to inform you of a new law to be enacted on the third of September this coming fall. It requires all unmarried witches and wizard of legal age to marry. Any witch or wizard who lacks a proper partner upon the activation of the law or their seventeenth birthday is required by law to present themselves to the newly founded Ministry of Reproductive Affairs where they will be assigned a life partner based on an aurora compatibility test. Failure to do so will result in forced relocation on the person. **

**Yours truly, **

(Here there was a fancy and largely unreadable signature.)

**Minister of Magic **

**P.S. This is a courtesy note. Ignorance of the law is not justifiable reason to disobey it. **

When Molly was finished no one dared speak. They all silently looked at their feet or comforted their loved ones silently. The infant twins fussed against their mother. Fleur handed James to Charlie while making sure his sister was free from his hold. Anyone who dared a glance was overwhelmed by the adorable copper haired pair. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Ministry of Reproductive Affairs," she spat out like it was a curse. "How dare they? How dare they!"

All of her friends looked on thinking the same thing; _it is a rotten time to be single_.


	3. Complex inferiority

**Chapter three - Complex inferiority**

Harry James Potter was used to having power. It had not always been this way. In fact he had just recently begun to feel comfortable with the fact. At one time in his life a mere seven years ago he thought he had no power at all and never would. He believed he had been born under the thumb of fate and fate had just passed him on. The small pleasure he could provide his Aunt and Uncle by displays of misery did not make up for the trouble he put them through. They informed him of this fact daily. He was worthless and worse yet everyone around him knew it.

Imagine his delight when one day a letter came for him. He didn't care if it was junk mail or not. He had gotten a letter! Imagine being worth nothing, being told you are worth nothing and then suddenly finding that someone thinks you are worth writing to! A half a pound for postage had been spent on him because some one wanted to. It had not been forced by the need to keep him alive or maintain appearances with the neighbors. It had been spent for him.

What he did not know was that the letter was to be the first in a long line of such acknowledgements. At first he had been thrilled (they like me! they really like me!) but then he began to have doubts. What did they know? He was worthless before, what had changed? They were all watching him now. They expected him to succeed. What would they say when he failed? He would be as bad as before. He would be worse then before! He would have ruined their hopes, but there was nothing he could do.

He waited for it to happen. The odds were against him for the first time against the troll. He expected to fail but he didn't. "Next time" he thought and there where a lot of next times. He kept coming back from the brink of disaster. It perplexed him. It frightened him.

Egypt was when it all changed. He had lived in doubt for six year it was time to end it. He decided then that there would be no "next time". He was going to go down to the tomb and face Voldemort one more time. There were two possible outcomes. He would be dead or he would be as powerful as they had always said he was. Luckily, it turned out to be the second. He was powerful.

"Fat lot of good it does me now." He muttered to himself. "One of my best friends is getting married tomorrow to a complete stranger."

If he knew how wrong he was he just might have ran for it.


	4. false reporting

**Chapter four- false reporting**

Blaise Metile Zabini was not the kind of person who liked to brag. There really was no need. Most knew of him and respected him in passing. Those who didn't respect him didn't deserve the time it would take to explain himself. Draco had always understood that. Draco had always known that Blaise was worthwhile and smart.

When Blaise volunteered to work for the Ministry of Reproductive Affairs, Draco simply assumed that Blaise had a good reason. Blaise was glad of that because, had Draco asked, Blaise would have had trouble explaining his motive. Blaise knew Draco was too proud to admit that he was worried about whom he would end up with, but Blaise did not want to see his friend unhappy.

The job wasn't offered to Blaise until one week before the deadline. It seemed that most young wizards were not excited to take a position in the new Ministry. Blaise understood why. Blaise's processor resigned from his post in response to death threats from the general public. A young writer for the Daily Prophet wrote an article accusing the Ministry of violating the basic rights of the wizarding population. The same writer called anyone under twenty-one who worked for the Ministry "age traitors". Of course this writer was married.

Many of the employees of the Ministry of Magic were victims of violence at the hands of dissenters. For weeks protesters stood outside the Ministry headquarters shouting and picketing. Then in the late evening of the second day of a particular month a squadron of Ministry police filed into the Ministry plaza and set up an apparition tent. As the press rallied around, the police stood their ground and waited. All day there were reports of signs of life in the tent. One reporter said he saw a leather shoed foot. Another reporter saw a woman's silhouette. Soon the reports came in of the hundreds of young people that registered.

Still, no actual names appeared in the paper. No reporters actually interviewed anyone who was not already married. Blaise hardly found this odd. He knew that the reports were exaggerations. He knew that most young people had reacted to the laws and married as the Ministry had expected. He also knew what the Ministry had predicted around fifty applicants for matching. The Ministry had been wrong. There were only two.


	5. new experiences

**Chapter five- new experiences**

Alastor Medi Moody was used to plans having kinks. He was used to fixing those kinks as well. However the solutions he was used to providing with generally involved hitting things and surprising people. Gentile diplomacy was not his strong suit. That was his explanation. Also the Minister of Magic made lousy coffee cake.

"What do you want?" Moody grunted at the new Minister.

"I want you to do me a favor"

"What kind of favor?"

"Well you see Alastor; there is a very delicate situation at the feet of the ministry right now. I am of course referring to our new ministry of reproductive affairs."

"Of course you are," at least the cake wasn't stale Moody observed.

"There has been a problem, Alastor. While the majority of students married promptly as we expected…"

"A few of them are hiding out in the mountains, right?" Moody didn't like pauses "I heard there were hundreds. Not that I blame them but I'll get them back soon as you can say…"

"No, no," the Minister waved him down, "Those reports are false. That's just 'The Daily Prophet' trying to boost their readership again. Everyone who needed to register has registered."

"So then what is the bloody problem?" asked Moody through silted eyes.

"The 'bloody' problem, Alastor, is we have two registrations."

"But that means… and…" Moody did not want this job.

"Yes and you get to tell them"

Moody had an explanation of why he couldn't do this job but no one was listening.

A/N: New chapter up tomorrow


	6. Getting over with you

**Chapter six- Getting over with you**

Life really isn't about anybody. This realization came to Hermione Anne Granger and Draco Marconi Malfoy both at around 8:44 in the morning. Perhaps it was caused by the stress of a big life change. Perhaps it was the death of the dream meeting that special someone and having the perfect white wedding. Perhaps it was just the way these things work.

At any rate they both realized that they weren't the main characters in some great story. They realized they probably would never dream of that special someone again. Or if they did dream it would only ever be in sleep. The thought caused them pause but still they had the courage to continue on.

With their new world view they apperated into room 143 of the Department of Reproductive Affairs.

"…know bloody well that you could find someone else…" Moody was shouting at the fire.

"They're here," it said back calmly. "Do your job."

"Right on time as usual," commented Moody. "I wouldn't have expected any less from your year's top witch and wizard."

"She…" said Draco.

"He…" said Hermione.

"Sort of," he said, "as is expected the Ministry has gone and screwed things up again. You see we had some 'unpredicted factors' and I have been assigned to explain them to you. Firstly, congratulations you were the best match we had!"

They looked at him incredulously.

"Secondly, you were also the only match we had," he explained.

"That's ridiculous," said Hermione. "The daily prophet said there were hundreds of people coming in. There must be some kind of mix-up."

"It's no mix-up," said Moody sullenly. "All over the wizerding world laws similar to this have been placed into effect. Our ministry was one of the last to impose it. You two are something of an anomaly. In no other community worldwide has a single other person failed to find a partner in time for the sorting. You two are just the only unmarried wizards in England; you're the only ones in the world."

"So we're screwed," said Draco.

"Not exactly," said Moody. "Technically you two can still work as a pair. You are 100-50 pair."

"What does that mean?" asked Hermione.

"Well both numbers are on a one to a hundred scale," began Moody while watching Draco carefully. "The first describes the weight of the terminal relationship. A zero pair would fail to notice the other person exists. A hundred pair, such as your selves, wouldn't be able to think of anything else once the relationship begins."

Draco snorted.

"It will never change." Moody continued, "The second number will change as the relationship progresses. It explains the likelihood that a couple will like each other. Zero being hate and a hundred being love."

"So a 100-50 pair," Hermione concluded, "will either end up totally hating each other…"

"Or fall totally in love," finished Draco.


	7. Staged Grief

**Chapter seven- Staged Grief**

All was quiet after the latest revelation.

"There is no way that the ministry expects us to just go along with this," said Draco. "They just wouldn't."

"I agree," said Hermione. "This is insane."

"It might be insane but it is how it is," Moody retorted.

"It's not just how it is," Hermione said. "You're leaving out a crucial detail. We can still date muggles!"

"No, Hermione, we can't," Draco said.

"What do you mean I can't?" Hermione asked. "Of course I can. I have no problem dating muggles. I respect them."

"Actually that is your problem right there," Draco said. "You know wizerding law as well as I do. A wizard cannot tell a muggle about wizardry unless they get permission from the Ministry gives specific approval. Generally this approval is only given after marriage. You respect muggles so much that you couldn't lie to them."

"And you could," Hermione accused.

"No," Draco said. "Granger, I know you think badly of me and I can't blame you but... I don't know. I guess that's it. I just wouldn't."

"Sorry," said Hermione.

More silence filled the room. Then finally Draco spoke.

"Dammit! How can they do this to us? Just how? Who gave them the right to... to..."

"...to not predict the unpredictable?" Moody "You know we had seers on this for weeks and not one of them saw you two coming."

"So what now?" Hermione asked. "Are we just unlucky?"

"...shit..." muttered Draco.

"...yeah..." Hermione agreed. "It could be worse of coarse. There could be only one."

Draco snorted.

"At least we're alone together" Draco finally admitted, as he cracked a half smile.

With a half laugh Hermione managed to echo, "Yep, alone together."

A/N: Bare with me here people there are about four chapters left and they will be DENSE.


	8. Compatibility numbers and YOU!

**Chapter eight- Compatibility numbers and YOU!**

The remainder of the meeting was a blur of informational packets with inane names like "Compatibility numbers and YOU! – How to make predilection statistics work in your favor" and "Arranging for love – a history of wizerding marriage". All three of them got a laugh out of the ridiculous pamphlets. Hermione's favorite was "Dating by the numbers – how to make your match count". Draco preferred "What's love got to do with it - fostering a platonic relationship". 

Moody refused to divulge which he found the most among deeming it "unprofessional". Still, neither of the others could help but notice the way he smiled while quoting "Statistically efficient dating procedures".

The levity of mocking the pamphlet names and subjects helped the newly assigned "life partners" avoid the reality that the pamphlets spelled out. The truth was overwhelmingly depressing. 

It appeared that the ever well intended ministry had decided that the poor youth that had been unable to align themselves in the given time period must be somehow socially inept. As such the ministry had decided to impose sanctions that would help the poor youth struggle through the ever difficult world of other people. The pamphlets offered advice on everything from posture to primping. 

Worse yet the ministry had planned out a month of dates for the pair. The schedule was not like the other pamphlets printed on plain white parchment in plain black ink. The only roughly fancy thing about it was the title which had been in a script that Hermione thought roughly resembled MS Vivaldi. 

**The schedule for the courting of Miss Granger and Mr. Malfloy**

**September the third – initial meeting and explanation of the expectations for the couple**

**September the fifth – 6pm the first date including dinner, dress: Semi-formal**

**September the tenth – 11am the second date including a light lunch, dress: Casual**

**September the seventeenth – 6pm the third date including dinner, dress: formal**

**September the eighteenth – 11am meeting with the reproductive liaison to assess the couple's progress and prescribe a subsequent course of action**

**All events will commence at the bureau of the Ministry of Reproductive Affairs. Repetitive tardiness or failure to present oneself will result in punishment as determined by the reproductive liaison. Ignorance of the law is not justifiable reason to disobey it.**

"I suppose you are our…" Hermione paused, "Our _reproductive liaison_?"

"Apparently I was… eh… volunteered for that task, Miss Granger," Moody replied.

"Well I guess I'll see you at six on the fifth then Granger," Draco said while getting up.

"Call me Hermione, Malfloy," responded Hermione.

"Only if you call me Draco, Hermione," said Draco.

"Agreed," said Hermione.

They both left.

The face in the fire finally chimed in, "You didn't tell them. After all that fighting, you didn't tell them. What changed your mind?"

Moody sighed, "It's unfair enough as it is I couldn't bring myself to tell them that… Wait a minute that's why you picked me isn't it?"

The face in the fire looked guilty. Moody was furious. 

"You bloody… I ought to… ARGH!" Moody wiped his hands forcibly down his face, possibly leaving bruises. He sat down again and contained his anger. His eyes darted around the room as if trying to compose his thoughts.

He finally broke his silence with a slow, planned sequence of words, "You chose me because you _knew_ I wouldn't be able to tell them. You _knew_ I couldn't stand to hurt them like that. You 'effing _knew_… You're sick."

Moody picked up his coat and left. The fire extinguished itself.

A/N: That's all for now **Gryffindor Princess** would do well to pay attention to the next chappy which will have more meat on why things happened the way they did.


End file.
